Black Friday has a long tradition across the Atlantic, but in recent years it has become an equally important day on the UK retail calendar. Shoppers spent over £3 billion on Black Friday 2015, which economists suggest boosted the UK economy greatly.

There are plenty of things high street retailers could and should do to prepare for this cornucopia of consumers. The most obvious ones are ordering extra stock and thinking up irresistible deals, but these are not necessarily the most effective. Adapting your store layout for Black Friday may bring you the most bonus business. This is how you do it effectively.

Prepare for the crowds

Some of the biggest retail chains in the world are aware of the importance of store layout on Black Friday, with many of them releasing floor plans online to make sure customers are familiar with their surroundings. In 2014 Tesco’s faced criticism from the police for the ‘mini riots’ that broke out in their stores as large crowds surged for discount items. These kinds of incidents can be avoided if retailers modify the layout of their stores for the Black Friday buzz.

Creating more space in your store will help of course, but that isn’t the only way to prepare for crowds. Paying attention to the directional flow of a store is equally important. Encouraging customers to take one route through the store will lead to fewer direct collisions, and research suggests that shoppers naturally prefer to move anti-clockwise around a store after they enter.

Another way to prepare for crowds is to up your anti-shoplifting measures. If you are yet to install RFID, Black Friday is the perfect time to do so. RFID solutions will allow you to keep track of items by tagging them with unique radio transmitters. This means you can see if an item has been stolen, or even if it has been misplaced.

Place promotions wisely

Black Friday store layout is not just about avoiding the worst. It is also about making money. To ensure you make the most from the increased foot traffic, come up with great promotions and position them wisely, in places they will be noticed and accessible. Retail audits can help you figure out the best placement and ensure standards are upheld across chains.

Promotional placement is about more than shelf layout, it also includes storefront design. Make it clear from your storefront that you are participating in Black Friday, and highlight some of your best deals, or the deals that you predict will be most popular.

Clue-in your salespeople

You are adapting your store for the customers, but don’t forget about your staff as you do it. Make sure all your salespeople are clued up on the Black Friday deals and can find popular items with ease. Ensuring that your staff get regular breaks is another way to help the effectiveness of the Black Friday layout, as otherwise they may forget information or be generally less helpful to shoppers. Black Friday can be the most stressful day of the year for retailers, but it can also be the most profitable. On Black Friday the customers are in control, but without well-informed staff, they will not be able to navigate your store as easily, and you may well miss out on sales.